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Floods leave ruin and destruction in Kelantan

ALL GONE: Mr Muhammad Sukarni Daud and his wife try to salvage what's left of their home in the village of Manik Urai.TNP PHOTO: MOHD ISHAK

ALL GONE: Mr Muhammad Noor Said sitting on the porch of what was once the home he built almost 50 years ago.TNP PHOTO: MOHD ISHAK

DESTROYED: Mrs Thilaga Poongavanam, who helps out in her husband's dental clinic, tried to save the dentist chairs by putting them on the table, but the waters rose too fast and washed them away.TNP PHOTO: MOHD ISHAK

DAMAGED: In Kuala Krai, both urban and rural areas were not spared. Mud reached the second storey of shophouses at Jalan Sultan Jaya Putra in the town centre.TNP PHOTO: MOHD ISHAK

DAMAGED: In Kuala Krai, both urban and rural areas were not spared. Strong flood waters toppled kampung houses in the village of Manik Urai, on the outskirts of the town.TNP PHOTO: MOHD ISHAK

At least 21 people have been killed and eight others are missing, Malaysian police said yesterday.

Almost a quarter of a million people have been displaced, reported AFP.

The devastation at Mr Muhammad Noor's village, Manik Urai, on the outskirts of Kuala Krai and almost 100km from Kelantan's capital Kota Baru, is shocking.

The bridge into the village was littered with overturned cars when The New Paper visited it on Tuesday.

Mr Muhammad Noor and his wife, Mrs Mekembong Ibrahim, 66, were not at home when the flood waters swept into his village. On Dec 22, their son, Mr Zailani Muhammad Noor, had taken them to his house in the nearby village of Machang.

Mr Zailani, 41, a retired army personnel, said: "I heard the situation was getting dangerous (in Manik Urai), so I felt they would be safer with me.

"Every now and then we would go back and check on the house but the last few days, the waters were too high. Then on Monday, we finally got a proper look and the house was gone. It's very sad because this is the house I grew up in."

As Mr Muhammad Noor sat quietly, his wife was busy picking through what was left of their house to see what she could salvage.

TOUCHED

She had earlier accepted a donation, with tears running down her face, of clothes from some of the volunteer aid workers streaming into the village.

"I'm touched by some of the help that is coming in," said Mrs Mekembong.

"Right now though, I'm just at a loss of what to do. I don't even know how I'm going to send my grandkids to school - their uniforms were all destroyed in the floods," she added.

Moments later, a volunteer dropped off a pile of new school uniforms and Mrs Mekembong quickly busied herself distributing the clothes to the village children.

Several times we heard the villagers compare the flood waters that devastated their villages to a tsunami.

RIPPED

We quickly understood why. Some houses were ripped from their foundation, while others were totally destroyed.

As we travelled through the town of Kuala Krai, we saw residents clearing shophouses of the mud that had settled.

"If there was running water, at least we can try to clean up the place properly," said Mrs Thilaga Poongavanam, 41.

She helps out at her husband's dental clinic and when we met her, she was cleaning up the clinic with buckets of water she had hauled from a nearby river.

"Everything that we have is gone," she said.

"We tried to save the dentist chairs by putting them on a table, but the water rose too high and now everything is gone."

Her husband, Dr Munusamy Rangkaswamy, has been the town's dentist for close to 30 years. Thankfully, their home in Kuala Krai, which is on higher ground, was unaffected.

Asked if she could make an insurance claim, she replied: "I don't know, all our insurance documents were in the clinic. Everything is gone, only the waiting room chairs are left."

They survived on mouldy bread

The floods have finally receded in Tumpat, Kelantan, allowing victims, cut off from communication and supplies, to step out from their shelters in search of food.

Mr Mohd Zainudin Ismail, 34, said he and his family of five rationed food to a point where they were eating mouldy bread, Malay Mail Online reported.

He said: "Whatever we could eat, we ate. We kept bread until it was mouldy and still tasted good.

"We were stuck here from Tuesday and it wasn't until the following Monday that we saw the water levels go down."

He said more than 1,200 people resorted to seeking shelter at a nearby school, which was not a designated evacuation centre.

Mr Zainuddin said: "We had nowhere else to run, we had to go there anyway. It was not a designated centre, so we didn't receive any aid in food or kind.

"Everyone just shared what we had among ourselves, rationing without knowing how long we would be here."

After the water receded, he was put in charge of going out and getting food.

Meanwhile, The Star Online reported that four aircraft loaded with essential items were flown in yesterday to help the flood victims.

Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar said the planes, comprising two King Air Bea Craft 350 and two Cesla Caravan 208, left the Redland Aviation Services hangar in Subang for Kota Baru.

"Each of the planes is carrying 2,700kg of food and essential items," he told reporters.

Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai was mobbed by more than 100 villagers when he arrived in Kerdau, Pahang, in a train carrying much needed supplies.

Numbering about 600, the villagers have been without electricity and clean water for days and were running out of food when Mr Liow, who is also the Malaysian Chinese Association president, made the supply run.

On the return journey to Mentakab, also in Pahang, the train took on board several people, who were desperate to leave the area.

"I am afraid that if I stay I will die," said retiree Lim Kiuk, 81, after he climbed into the carriage.